I meant well but doctor made me feel like a fool

onlyhuman
onlyhuman Member Posts: 99
edited March 2014 in Brain Cancer #1
I take pride in being an educated woman but sure felt like a fool yesterday. I decided to look into supplements for my husband who is undergoing chemo at the moment (Temodal for 5 days in a 28 day cycle). We first started with a multi vitamin and fish oil capsules and it improved his energy quite a bit. Then I heard about Yunzhi capsules, which is a type of mushroom extract. All the material I read suggested that it did not counter react with chemo treatment and although it does not cure cancer, it can help to boost the immune system.
Hubby started taking the capsules 2 weeks ago. A week ago he started having some symptoms similar to what he was like immediately after his operation. Saw the oncologist yesterday and when we told him about the Yunzhi tablets he basically gave us a scolding....about how it has not been proven that such supplements help at all and how we have taken such a big risk because mushroom extracts can affect liver function. Hubby is on Dilantin and Tegretol for seziures and apparently these meds may affect liver function (didn't know this) and the supplements would have been putting unneccessary strain on his liver. When asked point blank if his symptoms could be linked to poor liver function the oncologist could not give a definitive answer and that got me annoyed. We are under enough strain as it is without adding guilt to the equation. Anyway, have spent the hours since then mentally chastising myself and wondering if I've caused harm.

Comments

  • PBJ Austin
    PBJ Austin Member Posts: 347 Member
    #2
    Sorry that happened
    I'm sorry to hear the doctor hurt your feelings. It is so hard to see a loved one go through cancer. We all want desperately to help our loved ones to get well and it's easy to fall victim to marketing scams that promise a miracle cure. But please take with you a lesson from this experience, and that is to ALWAYS ask your doctor before using any kind of treatment. I don't care if the marketer says it's natural and it won't hurt anyone, that is the doctor's call. Blessings to you and your family, and please be kind to yourself.
  • PBJ Austin
    PBJ Austin Member Posts: 347 Member
    #3
    PBJ Austin said:

    Sorry that happened
    I'm sorry to hear the doctor hurt your feelings. It is so hard to see a loved one go through cancer. We all want desperately to help our loved ones to get well and it's easy to fall victim to marketing scams that promise a miracle cure. But please take with you a lesson from this experience, and that is to ALWAYS ask your doctor before using any kind of treatment. I don't care if the marketer says it's natural and it won't hurt anyone, that is the doctor's call. Blessings to you and your family, and please be kind to yourself.

    I misspoke
    I realize you said this drug does not promise a miracle cure and I didn't mean to imply that was what you were thinking. But if it promises to help in any way, even just by boosting the immune system, it really needs to be analyzed by the doctor first.

    All the best to you.
  • onlyhuman
    onlyhuman Member Posts: 99
    #4
    PBJ Austin said:

    Sorry that happened
    I'm sorry to hear the doctor hurt your feelings. It is so hard to see a loved one go through cancer. We all want desperately to help our loved ones to get well and it's easy to fall victim to marketing scams that promise a miracle cure. But please take with you a lesson from this experience, and that is to ALWAYS ask your doctor before using any kind of treatment. I don't care if the marketer says it's natural and it won't hurt anyone, that is the doctor's call. Blessings to you and your family, and please be kind to yourself.

    If only doctors were open minded
    Hi

    I agree that its wise to check with the doctor but in our experience the oncologist rarely recommends any complementary "medicines" and supplements and yet many tumour sufferers benefit from them be it improving quality of life or even delaying recurrence. There is a still a reluctance to adopt a wholistic approach.I was not influenced by the marketer but by good results other brain tumour sufferers have had with the products and no these were not testimonials on the product site but through another forum. I guess I find it exasperating that while we would like to take a "lets throw the kitchen sink at it if necessary" approach to combating my husband's condition, the oncologist and surgeon are acting as if he's on borrowed time and we should not expect much quality of life. So yes while I'll check with the oncologist, I dont think he has all the answers either. Sorry if that sounds abrupt but we have come to realise that to our doctors we are but another family facing cancer and while they will do their best professionally, they do not have the sense of urgency we do.
  • sue Siwek
    sue Siwek Member Posts: 279
    #5
    PBJ Austin said:

    Sorry that happened
    I'm sorry to hear the doctor hurt your feelings. It is so hard to see a loved one go through cancer. We all want desperately to help our loved ones to get well and it's easy to fall victim to marketing scams that promise a miracle cure. But please take with you a lesson from this experience, and that is to ALWAYS ask your doctor before using any kind of treatment. I don't care if the marketer says it's natural and it won't hurt anyone, that is the doctor's call. Blessings to you and your family, and please be kind to yourself.

    i second what you have said.
    i second what you have said. oncologist are putting poisons in the body to kill the cancer and adding anything without checking first is very dangerous because of adverse reactions. has nothing to do with intelligence it has to do with a science that most of us do not understand or we would be the doctor. not to say that one should follow blindly, we should always question. i remember when my husband was on a clinical trial and there was a long list of things he shouldn't eat. one was tomatoes and by mistake he ate one, i remarked to the oncologist that he didn't get sick from them and, he replied that the reason was not that they would upset his stomach but that with this drug it could cause internal bleeding.
  • PBJ Austin
    PBJ Austin Member Posts: 347 Member
    #6
    onlyhuman said:

    If only doctors were open minded
    Hi

    I agree that its wise to check with the doctor but in our experience the oncologist rarely recommends any complementary "medicines" and supplements and yet many tumour sufferers benefit from them be it improving quality of life or even delaying recurrence. There is a still a reluctance to adopt a wholistic approach.I was not influenced by the marketer but by good results other brain tumour sufferers have had with the products and no these were not testimonials on the product site but through another forum. I guess I find it exasperating that while we would like to take a "lets throw the kitchen sink at it if necessary" approach to combating my husband's condition, the oncologist and surgeon are acting as if he's on borrowed time and we should not expect much quality of life. So yes while I'll check with the oncologist, I dont think he has all the answers either. Sorry if that sounds abrupt but we have come to realise that to our doctors we are but another family facing cancer and while they will do their best professionally, they do not have the sense of urgency we do.

    holistic meds
    I hear what you are saying and yes, very often doctors are closed minded to alternative approaches to healing. I do understand your sense of urgency because I feel it too. My beautiful young sister (age 26) is battling brain cancer and the prognosis is not good. I would do anything in this world to erase this and make her well. So many people have suggested herbs, juices, etc. I've done my homework and it's very hard to find unbiased reviews of these products. The testimonials I have found are often on the web page of the vendor so I don't trust those. We always ask the doctor about these things but so far the doctors haven't given us the green light to use any of that. I wish I could be of more assistance to you, but all I can say is that I am in the same boat as you and everything you are saying makes perfect sense to me.
  • NeverGivingUp
    NeverGivingUp Member Posts: 17
    #7
    I am not educated with your
    I am not educated with your husbands condition but I took Temodar nearly 10 years ago for a brain stem tumor and the only thing that I took was Echinacea tablets (2 a day) while on the drug. I only got sick once and had good energy. GNC brand works best! GNC normal carries an Echinacea/Goldenseal mix and I still take it when I feel a cold or anything hitting in. I got immune to it after a couple months so I only take it when I'm sick.

    Wish you and your husband all of the best.
    Crystal
  • sue Siwek
    sue Siwek Member Posts: 279
    #8
    please! please! do not go
    please! please! do not go with an unknown treatment! stick with your doctors. if they tell you they have nothing else to fight it with then try this quackery. sorry all of you that believe in natural cures this is not the time to experiment! so much damage can occur because of the unknown inner action of drugs be very careful!!!!
  • sue Siwek
    sue Siwek Member Posts: 279
    #9
    NeverGivingUp said:

    I am not educated with your
    I am not educated with your husbands condition but I took Temodar nearly 10 years ago for a brain stem tumor and the only thing that I took was Echinacea tablets (2 a day) while on the drug. I only got sick once and had good energy. GNC brand works best! GNC normal carries an Echinacea/Goldenseal mix and I still take it when I feel a cold or anything hitting in. I got immune to it after a couple months so I only take it when I'm sick.

    Wish you and your husband all of the best.
    Crystal

    i doubt that temodar existed
    i doubt that temodar existed 10 years ago.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #10
    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

Discussion Boards